The signing of the European Union’s biggest ever bilateral trade deal shines as “a light in the increasing darkness of international politics” at a time when some are questioning the rules-based international order, according to European Council President Donald Tusk.
Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker raised concerns over the rise of protectionism when they traveled to Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and sign a long-awaited Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Japan on July 17. The EPA, which has been under negotiation since 2013, is set to create a free trade zone that covers 600 million people and nearly a third of global GDP. Negotiations concluded last year but with the formal signing paves the way for the deal to come into force early next year.
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